No, This Video Does Not Show Nepal Protesters Storming Pashupatinath Temple

An old video showing a large group of young men gripping the gates of the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, as part of an annual religious festival is falsely being linked to ongoing protests in Nepal.

BOOM found that the video is from March, 2025 during the Basleshwari Jatra celebration in the Pashupatinath Temple.

The 'Gen Z protests' or anti-corruption protesters in Nepal took a violent turn after 19 young protesters were killed by police in Kathmandu on September 8. Angry protesters have set government buildings and offices of politicians including several former prime ministers on fire. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has since resigned while President Ram Chandra Poudel is at an undisclosed location.

The video shows youngsters scaling the gate of the temple. NDTV India used the same video to run a show about how protesters and goons reached Pashupatinath temple. The anchor can be heard saying, "You can see youngsters between 13-28 years of age. They have vandalised and burnt down the prime minister's residence, Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament in Nepal and now they have reached the gates of the temple." Click here for an archive.

The Claim

The video was shared by NDTV India's Instagram account with the caption, "नेपाल में असामाजिक तत्वों ने पशुपतिनाथ मंदिर में भी तोड़फोड़ शुरू कर दी है." (Translation: Anti-social elements in Nepal have also started vandalizing the Pashupatinath temple). The video has since been deleted.

What We Found:

1. Video is old: BOOM ran a reverse image search on the keyframes of the video and was directed to a Facebook reel by Hamro Jatra shared on July 14, 2025. According to the hashtags used, the video shows moments of a Jatra celebration in Pashupatinath temple. Hamro Jatra further clarified in a post on September 9 that the video is not recent and shows a festival of the Newar community of Nepal known as the Paha Chahre Jatra.

2. Video from Basleshwori jatra celebrations: Taking a cue, we ran similar hashtag searches on TikTok and found visuals similar to the viral video uploaded by a photographer named Bikrant Shrestha on March 31, 2025 on the platform. According to the caption, the video features glimpses of the Basleshwori jatra's second day. The caption reads, "When naxal Bhagwati was on her way to meet Basleshwori Bhagwati... she went to meet Mahadev at Pashupati (temple)." There's also a text in the video that reads, "Time when Naxal Bhagwati visited Pashupati." BOOM has reached out to Shrestha for a comment. The article will be updated once we get a response.

According to YouTube vlogs, the Jatra or procession is a traditional festival which culminates its celebrations in the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. The parade is dedicated to Basleshwori Devi, a form of goddess Durga and Kali. The festival is observed by the local Newar community of Nepal, those associated with the religious and cultural heritage of the Pashupati area.